Our GOLDEN GIRLS

Formidable females were everywhere in 2024, but it's impossible to ignore the grit and hard-won glory of Australia's women athletes

- Tracey Holmes

In a year of upheaval and crisis, the Paris Olympics offered glorious reprieve. Headlines declaring doom and destruction were interrupted to celebrate brilliance.

There were glimmers of hope, flashes of gold and moments of pride. The nation was united.

A tiny teenager with wings on her sneakered feet flying high on a skateboard; a BMX star seeking gold for her injured brother and collapsing in tears in his arms; the world’s greatest paddler overcome with joy – not for her own victories, but for her sister’s gold-winning feat.

In 2023 it was the Matildas who elevated women’s sport to a new level of inspiration with their motto, “Never say die.” In 2024, our remarkable Olympic and Paralympic athletes raised the bar higher at the Paris Games, creating moments that burned into the nation’s psyche.

It was our female athletes who provided the lingering memories of these Games. It was Australia’s most successful Olympics, yielding 18 gold medals, 13 won by women from cycling, swimming, canoe/kayak, skateboarding and pole vault. Then came the Paralympics with another medal haul of 18 golds, women winning eight and sharing in two other mixed events in swimming and rowing.

Barely a day went by without Australia’s national anthem blaring out from one of Paris’s iconic venues. And often it was one of our female athletes atop the dais.